Commonwealth Games wrap-up

Commonwealth Games wrap-up

Aaron Wilson celebrates after his momentous Gold medal win in the singles.

It was a fantastic effort from the Australian team who pulled off the country’s best performance at a Commonwealth Games since the nation’s efforts at the 2006 Games, where it won three gold, one silver and one bronze.

The Jackaroos walked away with a total medal haul of seven medals with five gold and two silver medals.

The Queensland based contingent toppled the defending champions of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, South Africa to add to the nation’s medal tally following a stunning 12-9 victory.

Despite the pressure of the final Jake Fehlberg remained calm throughout the thrilling final, even after pulling off some impressive shots which whipped the crowd up into a frenzy.

“I just tried hard to think about what I could be doing to change the game and tried to not think about what was going on around me,” Fehlberg said.

BWD Triples:

Australia’s BWD Triples team created history, with the Bowlers with a disability triples defeating New Zealand 14-13, with 68-year-old Games debutant Ken Hanson(skip)becoming Australia’s oldest Commonwealth Games gold medallist in the process.

The gold was Australia’s third of the campaign after completing a clean sweep of the two para-sport events.

Josh Thornton(lead),Tony Bonnell(second)and Hanson raced out to a 10-3 lead and looked all but sure of gold before New Zealand mounted a fightback to win 10 of the next 12 points to take a 13-12 lead ahead of the final end.

With the Kiwis positioning their bowls expertly on the final end, it all came down to Games debutant Hanson with his final two bowls to rescue Australia from defeat.

The Colac-based star did so with aplomb, bringing the crowd to their feet with two delicately placed bowls to de-throne the Kiwi advantage and take a match-winning two-shot lead for the Aussies.

Women’s Singles
Australia’s golden girl Karen Murphy was sensationally eliminated after she harrowingly succumbed to South Africa’s Colleen Piketh by two shots after leading for vast portions of the match, and having won just two days earlier.
“Nothing really changed between the two matches(sincethe sectional match), the green was pretty slow and doughy for the night game this time, but she was just more up and at-it than I was and that was the difference,” Murphy said.

The final gold medal of the bowls competition was contested after nine days of competition, Commonwealth Games debutant Wilson, 26, overcame Canadian Ryan Bester, himself a Broadbeach resident and marquee player for the Club in which the tournament was staged.

The Cabramatta-based ace found himself five shots down in the early stages of the decider but eventually prevailed by seven shots in the first to 21 shootout(21-14).

The Victorian became the nation’s third gold medallist in the showpiece men’s singles discipline, behind Queenslanders Rob Parrella(1990)and Kelvin Kerkow(2006).

Women’s pairs

The dynamic duo of Karen Murphy and Kelsey Cottrell finished top of their section on Day 7 and drew the Scottish duo of Lesley Doig and Claire Johnston in the knockout stages, but were unable to topple them in a heartbreaking 15-16 quarter-final loss.

The Scots opened up a 9-1 lead early on, before the Australians bravely pegged the margin back, forcing the result down to the wire on the last end to go agonisingly short of a semi-final breakthrough.
Men’s pairs
Reigning world pairs champions Brett Wilkie and Aaron Wilson mounted a monumental comeback to survive a sectional round scare against Guernsey in the final session, turning a nine-shot deficit into a three shot victory to retain their unblemished record and hopes of topping their pool.

Unfortunately for Australia, the duo came unstuck in the quarterfinal to a team they toppled in the sectional rounds, the Aussies missed out on a semi-final placing by just two shots against Malta who won the encounter 13-15.

Men’s Triples

Australia’s Jackaroos men’s triples team of Barrie Lester, Nathan Rice and Aron Sherriff were relegated to a silver medal by perennial powerhouse Scotland, who claimed the opening gold medal of the GC2018 Lawn Bowls competition this afternoon.

“It was a topsy-turvy type of game,” Sherriff said.

“There were two quality sides out there, so we knew it was going to be great encounter, it was just that Darren got the better of the big moments.

Women’s Triples

Australia’s Carla Krizanic, Natasha Scott and Rebecca Van Asch became the first dual gold medallists of the GC2018 bowls competition.

The trio secured their gold medal after toppling Scotland in the women’s triples’ ultimate decider, 21-12.

The trio become the nation’s first ever dual gold medallists from the same Games, and the first Australians to win Comm Games gold and world titles in the same two disciplines.

“To come away with two, and to do the double of the Comm Games and World Champs in both the triples and fours is really special, particularly with the same team,” Van Asch said.

“First Comm Games and a 100 per cent record is pretty special.”

All three players are now the Games gold medallists and reigning world champions in the women’s triples and fours.

Women’s Fours

The quartet of Kelsey Cottrell, Carla Krizanic, Rebecca Van Asch and Natasha Scott broke a 4,398 day Games gold medal drought for the nation, with a clinical performance against the reigning Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games gold medallists South Africa.

The Jackaroos trailed in the early stages of the match, before powering to a six-shot lead after six ends, when South Africa mounted their comeback, claiming four shots on the seventh, and eventually stealing the lead on the ninth end with two shots.

Australia’s golden girls responding strongly with three shots on the next to claw back the lead and take the rest in their stride.

Men’s fours

Australia fell agonisingly short of gold in the men’s fours final, losing 13-15 to Scotland on the final end.

Barrie Lester, Brett Wilkie, Nathan Rice and Aron Sherriff led for the majority of the match against the world champions in what was a mammoth two-and-a-half-hour affair.

The Scots produced four from a tense final end to topple the Aussies, with Ronald Duncan, Derek Oliver, Paul Foster and now five-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist Alex Marshall just too good in the end.